BENGALURU: It was version 2.0 of the protest against a steel flyover, now proposed to be built at Shivananda Circle. On Sunday morning, the residents from surrounding areas, right from children to the elderly, gathered in large numbers holding placards that read "No Steel Bridge", "Save Green, Do not Cut me" and "Widen Railway Underpass", and formed a human chain against the construction of the steel bridge by BBMP.
The Palike is gearing up to build the 326-m-long steel flyover on Hare Krishna Road across Shivananda Circle at a cost of Rs 50 crore by chopping 26 trees.
The residents argued that the steel flyover at Shivananda Circle will only worsen traffic congestion and also involve cutting of many trees. Instead, the Seshadripuram railway underpass should be widened, they said.
Kishan, who is in sixth grade and who was at the protest holding a placard that read ‘Do not cut me’, said, “I am here to save the trees, which the government is planning to cut to build a steel flyover. I do not like trees to be cut as they house many birds and other insects."
Most of the residents, who had gathered for the protest, questioned the government’s stubbornness in proposing a steel flyover again to solve traffic congestion.
Mr Chetan Kumar, a resident of Kumara Park, said that the proposed steel flyover is nothing but foolishness. “Hare Krishna Road is wide only next to Karnataka Film Chambers. But it narrows near Shivananda Circle and Seshadripuram railway bridge. Even if they build a steel flyover, it will only increase the traffic mess as vehicles heading from Film Chambers end up in traffic jams at the narrower road down towards the railway bridge."
Residents demanded that the project should be shelved immediately and the railway bridge widened to ease the traffic movement. They also batted for public transport like Metro and Monorail.
